Covid-19 Information

Main symptoms
The main symptoms of coronavirus are:

• a high temperature – this means you feel hot to touch on your chest or back (you do not need to measure your temperature)
• a new, continuous cough – this means coughing a lot for more than an hour, or 3 or more coughing episodes in 24 hours (if you usually have a cough, it may be worse than usual)
• a loss or change to your sense of smell or taste – this means you've noticed you cannot smell or taste anything, or things smell or taste different to normal
• Most people with coronavirus have at least 1 of these symptoms.

For information about what to do if you have symptoms, please visit the NHS website.

We have adapted our school day to make sure we can remain open safely. We are following guidance from Public Health England (PHE) and the Department for Education (DfE).

The school day has been extended to support teaching year groups safely whilst continuing to follow our curriculum planning, as well as provide time to catch-up in areas such as English, mathematics and GCSE options.

We are also committed to developing pupils’ understanding of how to keep physically healthy, eat healthily and maintain an active lifestyle, including giving ample opportunities for pupils to be active during the school day and through extra-curricular activities. An example of this is the use of prep time where pupils have additional daily time with their tutors to follow a programmine of learning to keep themselves safe online and in the community, relationships and sex education, as well as access to sports, music, reading, homework and careers education. 

It is important that children can continue their education. We have plans in place to make sure children can continue their education from home, if schools needed to close again.

Find out more about our remote learning curriculum

If you are looking for additional online learning material for your child, you can use Oak National Academy resources. 

The government has published advice for families around returning to school. We hope our families find this helpful.

Covid-19 catch-up premium strategy

Rationale

Our pupils have experienced unprecedented disruption to their education as a result of COVID-19. Over half of our young people are from the most vulnerable and disadvantaged backgrounds and are among those hardest hit. The scale of our response as a school must match the scale of the challenge.

We know that we have the professional knowledge and expertise as a trust to ensure that pupils continue to access a high quality synchronised curriculum from home and or school. Some pupils may require additional support to recover lost curriculum time and get back on track. 

This strategy includes measures that are part-funded by the DfEs announcement of £1 billion to support children and young people called the catch-up premium that ensures pupils have the support they need to help make up for lost curriculum time.

Our allocation is calculated on a per pupil basis, providing £80 for each pupil totalling £64880

We will use this funding for specific activities detailed below to specifically support pupils to catch up lost curriculum time over the previous months, in line with the guidance on curriculum expectations for the next academic year.

Senior staff will oversee the implementation of this strategy and work with governors and trustees to evaluate its impact each term to ensure we are spending this funding in line with our priorities, and ensuring appropriate transparency for parents.

Catch-up premium – evidence base

Our strategy is underpinned by research from the Education Endowment Fund (EEF).  The EEF offers a guide for schools to take into account relevant evidence and links to key resources to ensure our interventions have the greatest impact.

Nil/Low-cost strategies to support effective teaching, transition and assessment through:

• providing opportunities for professional development in relation to effective interventions for pupils with high mobility, low attendance and low prior attainment

• supporting curriculum planning or focused training on the effective use of technologies such as google classroom

• delivering dedicated transition events

• use assessment to identify areas where pupils are likely to require additional support

• enabling staff to assess pupils’ wellbeing and learning needs

• provide pupils with high-quality feedback, building on accurate assessment

Mid/High-cost strategies to provide targeted support for pupils and families to support additional tuition and technologies through:

• Delivering additional tuition by qualified teachers guided by the school, linked to the curriculum and focused on the areas where pupils would most benefit from additional practice or feedback.

• extending the length of the school day to provide additional academic or pastoral support

• structure interventions within the school day using experienced and trained staff with sufficient curriculum expertise to provide extra curriculum time in subjects identified with most need. 

• structure interventions within the school day using experienced and trained staff with sufficient expertise on other aspects of learning, such as behaviour or pupils’ social and emotional needs, or focus on particular groups of pupils with identified special educational needs or disabilities.

• Recruitment of an additional P/T attendance officer providing extensive pastoral support to pupils and families throughout the pandemic especially to increase attendance and engagement with learning. 

• providing additional books and educational resources to families with support and guidance about effective strategies

• providing additional support to focus on a wide range of outcomes, such as confidence and wellbeing,  high-quality academic support, and include a wide range of activities such as sport, which might have missed out on during partial closure

• Recruitment of an additional 3 HLTAs to facilitate additional curriculum support with teaching and accreditation for food & nutrition, statistics, enterprise, Art and ICT for those most at risk of underachievement and partial closure

• facilitating access to online tuition or support by investing in additional technology by providing pupils with devices & improving the facilities available in school.

Catch-up premium – strategy

Our strategy sets out what the school will provide for pupils who require additional support to catch up on lost curriculum time. This will also be a standing item at Governors’ meetings. Pupils may move between groups as the year progresses.